Monday, August 5, 2013

Sometimes I Dominate Diabetes

I went to the Dr. this past week, to get my diabetes checkup. I was really excited to have my A1C tested.

If you don't what what A1C is, it's the percentage of hemoglobin cells that are saturated with sugar. It's the most important diabetes test, because it shows how well managed your blood sugar is. 5.7% is considered pre-diabetic. 7% is considered diabetic. When I was diagnosed, mine was at 10.6%.

My goal was to be at 5.6, so that I could be a normal person. I had my family make guesses as to what my A1C would actually be at.

As you can see, my sister, Jen and myself were the only ones who thought I would make my goal. Also, I explained to my brother, Zack, that it is measured in tenths of a percent, so his guess was guaranteed to be wrong. But he insisted on 5.92.

As it turns out, I didn't make my goal. My A1C came in at 5.7. So my sister, Mellen, wins. I think this kind of guessing game is sort of like The Price is Right. You want to get the closest without going over. Because Jen can at least say that she believed in me too much. The others went over, so they're not nearly as awesome.

I was disappointed that I didn't hit my goal. But the Dr. thought I did fantastic. In fact, he told me he thinks we should lower my medication. I was way scared. Doesn't he know that I'm managing diabetes so well partly because of my medication? But, ultimately the goal is to get off the medication completely. So, I agreed to lower it. We dropped my Metformin from 2000 mg/day to 1000 mg/day.

He also said that since it's so well handled, we probably only need to get together once every 6 months. My goal for my February appointment is an A1C of 5.6 or lower, basically stay where I'm at even though I'm on the lower dosage of medication.